The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-29
BEHOLD ALSO THE SHIPS"
REV. DR. TkLaAGE'S SERMON TO
THE NAVAL POSTS.
Decoration Day Services i'm the Brooklyn
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Of the Navy Adj
vi~ed Ia Take Admiral Farragut As
Their Exenplar.

BROOKIYN MAY .1-As this is the time
for the decoration Of the graves Of those who
fell j.! the var, tine naval posts invited the
Rev. I. D- Win Talmage, D. D., to preach
serfnofi at the Brooklyn tabernacle appropri-
ate u tde a-r.aSion, rs often in the annual
COMMUNICATION Lui little had been said of
tho~e who served in the navy. An American
fl- adorned the pulpit, and the congregation
sang with great spirit:
" country. It's Of thee,
sweet land Of liberty.
D. T1llu1se's text was from James iii, A.
"BeIlo.I al-n tn, ships He said:
II this exclamation was appropriate about
1851 years aa-a, when il was written concern
ing the crude fishing smacks that sailed Lake
GIli,e-- how much more appropriate in an
age ~ lish has launched from the dry docks
for Vgrfr'ss- Of peace the Arizona, OF the
Guion line: TIN. Civ of Richmcv,d, of the In
man line: tine Egypt, of the National line; the
Germani,.. Of the White Star line; the Circas-
sin, Of the Anchor line: the Etruria, Of the
Cuna-.i line, and the Great Eastern, with
hull tj~D it,-t long-uot failure, for it helped
lay tLr Atlantic cable, and that was enough
glory f,r oue ships eXistence-and in an age
which for furT'~eS OF war has launched the
screw scoops Ike the Idaho. the Shenandoah,
tie. D--Ip-c and our ironclasls like the kala-
nrazpo. the Roanole and the Dunderberg, and
those Which have already b+--n Duflt1i III tine
deep like the Monitor, the Housatonic, the
Weehawkeu anG the Tecumseh, the tcmpests
ever since sounding n volley over their watery
scpuIc.lcrS and the SCARED veterans OF war
shir.,liii ike the Const tuition, or the Alliance,
or til. Constellation that have swung into the
naval yauis u spend their last days, their
decks now all silent of the feet that trod them,
their rigging all silent Of the tands that chung
to them, their port holes silent OF the brazen
threats that once Numbered out of them III
in the first century. when war vessels were
dependent on the oars that padded at the side
of them for propulsion, my text was sug-
geSt iy., with how much more emphasis, and
meaning. sTid overwhelming Renaissance We
can cr-V out, a. We the kearsage lay
acres the bows of the Alabama and sink II,
teaching foreign nations they had better
keep their hand OF our American fight,
or IS we see tn. ram Albemarle, of the Con
feiarutc-, running ont and in the Roanoke,
aud W. auI down the coast, throwing every
thing mlo confusion rs no other craft ever
dill, uurelFI 10y the Miami, the Ceres, the
= ,uthhel. the s'ssSacus, the Mattabesett, the
Whitehead. TIN. Commodore Hull, the Louis
lama the Minnesota and other armed vessels,
all irving ia vain to catch her until Capt
Gushing, Il years of age, and his men blew
her up. himself aud only one other escaping,
and a. | see the flagship Hartford, and the
Richmond and the Monongahela. with other
gunbuats, sweep past the batteries of Port
HmIson AMI the Mississippi flows forever
free 10 AL northern and southern craft, l cry
out with patriotic emotion that | cannot sup
press, if | would. and would not if l could:
"BelOld also the ships
At the annual decoration of graves north
and south among Federals and Confederates
full Justice has been done To the memory Of
those who fought on the land in our sad con-
test, but not enough has been sail OF those
who on ships deck dared and suffered all
things Lord God of the rivers and the sea,
help me in thissermon. So, ye admirals, com
modores commanders, captains, pilots, gun
ner,, boafswiiins, sailmalsers, surgeons stokers,
messmates and seamen of all names, to use
your own I,arlance, might as well get
under way and stand out toward sea Let all
land lubbers go ashore. Full speed now
Four bells.
Never sine the sea fight of Lepanto, where
500 royal gaIleys, manned by $1,000 warriors,
at sunrise, Sept. 6, 1911, met go royal galleys,
manned bv III. 900 men, and in the four hours
of battle : 600 fell on one side and 25,OOO on
the other. Yea, never since the day when at
Actium, thirty-one years before Christ,
Augustus, with 2t0 ships, scattered the 20
ships of Mark Antoer and gained universal
dominion as the prize; yea, since the day
when at Salamis the 1900 galleys of the
Persians manned by 800, coo men, We're crushed
bv Greeks with less than a third OF that force;
yea never since the time of Noah, the first
ship captain, has the world seen such a mi
raculous creation that of the American
navy in 1861. There Were about 200 avail
able seamen in all the naval stations and re-
ceiving ships, and here and there an old
vessel. Net orders were given to blockade
300 miles Of sea coast, greater than the
whole coast of Europe, and, beside that, the
Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, Mississippi and
| other great rivers, covering an extent of
1000 more miles, We're 70 be patrolied. No
wonder the whole civilized world burst into
gufaw of laughter ut the seeming Impossi
bility. But the work was done, done almost
Immediately, done thoroughly, and done
with sped and consummate skill that
ecIiIsed all the history of naval architecture.
What brilliant achievements are suggested
by the mere mention OF the names of the
| rear admraIs, If all they did should be
written. every one. / suppose that even the
world Itself could not contain the books that
should bn written. But these names have
| received the honors due. The most of them
went To- their graves under the cannonade of
all the forts navy yards and men of war, the
flag Of all the shipping and capitals at half
ma-t.
But r,-c,ite to day the deeds of our naval
heroes who have not yet received appropriate
recognition ~I}eholl also the ships As we
| will never know what national prosperity
| Is worth until realize what il cost, | recall
| tine uurccits,l fact that the men of the navy
ran especial risks. They had not only the
| human wealpDnry to contend with, but the
tides t. fo.. the storm. Not like other ships
| could THY run into harbor at the approach
| of an equinox, or cyclone, or a hurricane,
| because the harbOrs We're hostile. A miscal-
| culation Of a tile might bring them on bar,
! and a log might overthrow all the plans of
wi~c-r commodore and admiral and accident
I might leave them, not on the land ready for
an ambulance hut at the bottom of the sea,
a when the torpe,lo blew up the Tecumseh,
| in Mobile bay. ami nearly all on board per-
| ished They We're at the mercy of the At
| lantic and Pacific oceans, which have no
| mercy Such tempests have wrecked the
| Spanish armada might any day swoop upon
| the squadron. No hiding behind the earth
| works. NJ digging in of cavalry spurs at the
/ sound of retreat Mightier than all the fort
| resses on all the coasts is the ocean when it
| bombarls flotilla. In the cemeteries for
| Federal AMI Confederate dead are the bodies
of most of those who fell on the land. But
/ where those who went down in the
war vessels will not lie known until
the sea gives up its dead. The Jack tars knew
| that while loving arms might carry the men
/ who fell ON the land ami bury them with
| soluuu liturgy AMI the honors of war, for
| the bodies OF those vino dropped from the rat
/ ines into the sea or went down with all on
/ ,oar,f under the stroke of gunboat there re-
/ manned the shark and the whale and the end
tss tossing of the sea which cannot rest How
will You find their graves for this national
| decoration. Nothing but the archangels
trumpet shall reach their lowiy bed. few
of them have been gathered into naval ceme-
/ taries of the land and Won will garland the
/ sod that covers them, but who will put flow
/ ers on the fallen crew of the exploded West
/ field and Shawsheen. and the sunken South
| field and the Winfield Scotti Bullets threat